Books

(courtesy Hachette Australia) It is said that you shouldn’t never judge a book by its cover (we all do, of course, but shhh, we’re not supposed to, so mum’s the word there). But what about a title? Is that fair game for appraising how clever, fun and interesting a book Continue Reading

(courtesy Hachette Australia) Character is everything in an epic space opera. Some may disagree, and no doubt will, claiming that its very storytelling DNA is given over to massive moments and breathtakingly huge narrative twists and turns and that it’s that which defines it and makes it so undeniably thrilling Continue Reading

(courtesy Penguin Books Australia) One of the things that no one tells about getting older is that all those people you knew and valued and loved when you were younger might not be the same people as you move further into adulthood. If you think about it logically, that makes Continue Reading

(courtesy Penguin Books Australia) Is it possible to improve on Agatha Christie, or indeed, any of the great mystery writing greats? Many would say no, but then there’s a fair chance they haven’t read the brilliantly sleuthful concoction that is Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson, Continue Reading

(courtesy Matt Haig) It’s a rare and wonderful thing to pick up a book, read the back blurb and decide to get it because it sounds like a deliciously appealing mix of quirky and thoughtful, and then to find that it not only deliver on the promise of its premise Continue Reading

Apocalypses are, as a rule, not exactly places of merriment and jollity. The human race has been decimated, if it survives much at all, zombies/aliens/malevolent viruses/ naturally violent phenomenon stalk the land and civilisation are we know it is toast and likely to remain so in one of those evolutionary Continue Reading

(courtesy Arthur A. Levine books) If a book has a quirky title, it’s a better than even bet than this reviewer will pick it up, hold it close and not yield it to anyone, save for the person at the bookstore (you know, because paying for things is good, not Continue Reading

(courtesy Shawline Publishing Group) For something so hyped and lauded and revered, life certainly fails to deliver much of the time on its great promise. We all enter it expecting the absolute best and on an epic scale that defies imagination and hands over the keys to all the good Continue Reading